LION. 
203 
oxen to the waggons, as two of his horses had been 
devoured on the preceding night by lions. This 
powerful and treacherous animal is very common 
in the thickets about the salt-pans ; treacherous, be- 
cause it seldom makes an open attack, but, like the 
rest of the feline genus, lies in ambush till it can 
conveniently spring upon its prey. Happy for the 
peasantry, the Hottentots, and those animals that 
are the objects of its destruction, were its noble and 
generous nature, that so oft has fired the imagina- 
tion of poets, realized, and that his royal paw dis- 
dained to stain itself in the blood of any sleeping 
creature ! The lion, in fact, is one of the most in- 
dolent of all the beasts of prey, and never gives 
himself the trouble of a pursuit unless hard pressed 
with hunger.” Thus has Mr. Barrow contradicted 
the popular idea of this animal’s generosity, and 
given a much more probable reason for his apparent 
want of fierceness. 
We believe it is universally allowed, that the 
animal inhabitants of warm countries are larger, 
fiercer, and stronger, than those of cold and tem- 
perate climates. The lions of Mount Atlas, the 
tops of which are covered with eternal snows, have 
neither the strength nor ferocity of those which 
are produced under the burning sun of Africa. 
Those who have travelled through the countries 
where the lion is chiefly to be met with, assure us 
that the species is not very numerous, and that it 
seems to be diminishing daily. It is an observation 
